From Moscow to Kaluga is only 181 km along the E101 highway, the travel time (without traffic jams) is a little more than two hours. You can also plan a trip for a regular, short weekend. But it is better for long or vacation to see all the interesting things that are in Kaluga and the region.
This year the city turns 652 years old. There are many attractions.
State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky.
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Top 35 sights of Kaluga State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky. There is also the Vostok launch vehicle, the same as Gagarin’s Vostok-1 Memorial house-museum of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, theorist of cosmonauticsMonument to the 600th anniversary of KalugaPark named after TsiolkovskyMemorial house-museum of the Decembrist Gavriil BatenkovKirov Street, formerly Sadovaya, with historical (merchant) housesMuseum of Folk Art “House of Masters”Museum of Crafts, Culture and LifeKaluga Regional Museum of Local Lore, Museum of Fine Arts, Regional Drama TheaterKorobov’s Chambers of MerchantsThe house of the nobility, where congresses of nobles have been held since 1850, was visited by pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, writer Alexei Tolstoy and even Emperor Alexander II . In 1961, it became the Palace of Pioneers named after Yuri GagarinThe house of the merchant Rakov and Gostiny Dvor on Lenin StreetStone bridge, erected in 1780, similar to an aqueductTheatrical street (formerly Oblupskaya) Trinity CathedralSt. George’s CathedralKazan Women’s MonasteryVictory Square and Peace SquareAvchurino EstateMuseum-diorama “Great Standing on the Ugra River” (20 km from Kaluga).
A stone bridge built in 1780, similar to an aqueduct.A stone bridge built in 1780, similar to an aqueduct.
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And this is not a complete list. We advise you to add to the list of places worth visiting a few more objects that are not yet included in popular guidebooks. But it is about them that they will be told at the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the government of the Kaluga Region and the All-Russian public organization “Union of Restorers of Russia” on March 14 this year.
Restoration work is underway at these facilities. So just before the trip, we recommend that you find out at what stage they are and whether it already makes sense to visit this or that object. And if not this time, then on your next trip to Kaluga, be sure to include these sights in your itinerary.
New sights of the Kaluga region
Of course, we expect you to go on this journey by car. Some objects are located close to each other, others will have to go. But this has its own charm. The main thing is to make the route correctly.
We have placed the dots in order.
1. City estate of merchant I.K. Tsipulin (late XIX – early XX centuries)
Address: Kaluga, ul. Podvoyskogo, d.3
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Merchant Ivan Kozmich Tsipulin, a philanthropist and public figure, an honorary citizen of Kaluga, owned several houses in the city. He was engaged in passenger and towing shipping on the Oka from Kaluga to Kashira. Interestingly, he broke all records for being the mayor (16 years, from 1885 until his death in 1901). The whole city gathered for the funeral. For many years, a steamboat named after Ivan Tsipulin sailed along the Oka. And even in the monument to Karl Marx, erected in Kaluga in 1921 and standing until 1926, many Kaluga residents saw a portrait of the merchant Tsipulin.
City estate of merchant I.K. Tsipulin (late XIX – early XX centuries).City estate of merchant I.K. Tsipulin (late XIX – early XX centuries).
One of his houses after nationalization was used as communal housing. The last tenants left it only in 2022. The monument of architecture was taken up by young restorers.
2. “Wing of the city estate”, early. 19th century, 1910
Address: Kaluga, st. Monastyrskaya, 4
Not far from the Kazan Convent there is a small wing built in 1910, built of red brick. The plastered and painted façade was “adorned” with roller shutters on the windows for a long time. But recently this building was recognized as an object of cultural heritage and restoration began. Walking around Kaluga, try to look.
3. “House of Kozlyainov”, 1900s – 1910s
Address: Kaluga, ul. Nikitina, d. 10
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The Kozlyaninovs (Kozlyainovs) are a famous noble family, descended from the Novgorod boyar Grigory Leontyevich Kozlyaninov, recorded in 1550 in the “thousandth book” of the best nobles and boyar children.
The building of the city estate of Pavel Nilovich Kozlyainov, the landowner of the Przemysl district, the zemstvo head of the 1st section of the county, the vowel (deputy) of the county zemstvo assembly and the provincial zemstvo assembly from the county, the honorary magistrate of the county, was built of brick on the site of a wooden estate of the 3rd guild Kaluga merchant Ivan Stepanovich Podkovantsev. The building dates back to 1900-1910.
In the early 1920s, the estate was municipalized, the house was given to the Gorzhilfond for apartments, the layout of the building for apartments was significantly changed. Now this building is being restored.
4. Unkovsky House
Address: Kaluga, ul. Cosmonaut Volkova, d. 5
In 1794, on the site of the house there was a vitriol plant of the merchant Karasev, then the factory building changed its owner, the merchant Ivan Chernov became the owner, who used the plant as a lard furnace. In 1894, the building was bought by Nikolai Vladimirovich Unkovsky, from the dynasty of famous sailors. Unlike his famous admiral ancestors, he became only a midshipman, but he discovered a considerable musical gift in himself: Nikolai Vladimirovich had a wonderful dramatic baritone. After learning from the opera singer Camillo Everardi, he became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theater, where he served until 1888.
In 1899, having sold his estate in the Tula province, he bought a steamship and a barge and announced the opening of the N.V. Unkovsky”, who toured for many years from Kazan to Arkhangelsk. There were about seventy artists in the troupe!
Unkovsky’s house.Unkovsky’s house.
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It is interesting that another representative of the Unkovsky dynasty, Dmitry Semenovich, director of public schools in the Kaluga province, saw a genius in the deaf teacher of geometry and arithmetic Tsiolkovsky and organized his transfer from Borovsk to Kaluga as “one of the most capable and diligent teachers” on January 27, 1892.
In Kaluga, there is another Unkovsky mansion, on Cosmonaut Patsaev Street, and it needs to be reconstructed. But the building on Volkova, 5 remains the main “house of the Unkovskys” for the people of Kaluga.
5. “Rural estate of the Barykovs-Eropkins”
Address: Kaluga region, Babyn district, s. Kumovskoye st. Selskaya, d. 1
The ancient village of Kumovskoye has other names, folk – Pyatnitsa or Gruzdevo. The main attraction is the estate of the Yeropkin nobles, who became famous for their military and public service for the benefit of Russia. Second-Major Pyotr Matveyevich Eropkin, who in 1788 held the position of a judge of the county court in the Przemysl district, allocated more than twenty acres of land (about 22 hectares) for estate buildings. The estate became one of the largest in Russia, its cost was estimated at more than 50 thousand rubles.
Even earlier, in 1771, the brother of the owner of the estate, Boris Matveyevich Eropkin, built at his own expense in the village a stone church in the name of the Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. Today, only part of the walls remain from the temple.
Rural estate of the Barykov-Eropkins.Rural estate of the Barykov-Eropkins.
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The Eropkins owned the estate until the 30s of the 19th century. Then the landowner Karpov, the captain Ekaterina Antonovna Stanislavova, the agronomist landowner Nikolai Barykov were the owners in turn. He was considered a freethinker, married a peasant woman, taught the peasants, helped the poorest.
In 1913, at the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov Barykov, speaking at a meeting of the nobility, he called to turn his face to the “unwashed, covered with matting” people’s Russia and was booed. After the October Revolution, he did not leave his homeland, but began working in the People’s Commissariat for Agriculture. The mansion was empty.
In 1929, a solid manor house was transferred to the commune, during the war it was a hospital, then a school.
6. “House with tea Pisarev”
Address: Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Borovsk city, sq. Lenina, d. 22
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, teahouses were an integral part of any landscape, located at almost every intersection. All the townspeople drank tea, from peddlers to nobles. In the merchant town of Borovsk, there was also a tea house in Pisarev’s house – or rather, one of the houses, since in Borovsk there is also a house at Lenina, 12, one of the very first stone ones in the city. According to legend, it was here that Napoleon Bonaparte stayed with his retinue during the war of 1812.
And Pisarev’s house at Lenina 22 already in our time almost went under the bucket of a bulldozer, hitting the list of 17 old city houses to be demolished. The building was defended by public organizations. We hope that no one else will encroach on him. Borovsk still has the charm of antiquity, which is easy to destroy and very difficult to return.
7. Non-residential building built in 1901
Address: Kaluga region, Tarusa, he is. Carla Liebknecht, d. 1
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Here and in Tarusa there are less and less old houses. Brick two-story house at st. Karl Liebknecht, 1, was built in 1901. Until recently, it had three apartments with a total area of 72 sq. m. Now the house is considered non-residential and is subject to reconstruction. What will be located in it after the restoration is unknown. In any case, this house will decorate the city, unlike faceless apartment buildings.
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We hope we have convinced you that there are a lot of interesting things in Kaluga and the Kaluga region – although we “dug” quite shallowly. If you are going on a road trip, take the time to collect information. So you will get from the trip not only pleasure, but also benefit.
It remains to be recalled that the Kaluga region is one of the 46 regions of the Russian Federation, the largest country in the world. And if you have the opportunity to travel around the country by car, start, do not hesitate. We have already outlined one of the directions for you.
“Driving” can be viewed on YouTube.
Photo: Government of the Kaluga Region, TASS, from open sources
